[call for action] IB is forcing 2FA

[HobbyTrading]

My software stack does not support IB Gateway, I need TWS.

Out of curiosity: what feature for automated trading in TWS are you using that is not available in Gateway?

 

[markd01]

Out of curiosity: what feature for automated trading in TWS are you using that is not available in Gateway?

AmiBroker Auto-Trading interface for Interactive Brokers 1.3.8
https://www.amibroker.com/at/

 

[HobbyTrading]

AmiBroker Auto-Trading interface for Interactive Brokers 1.3.8
https://www.amibroker.com/at/

I don't see anything on that webpage that specifies that you must use TWS and cannot use Gateway. For IB's API is it the same: the way it connects to TWS and Gateway, and the messages it can exchange, is identical.

 

[d08]

AmiBroker Auto-Trading interface for Interactive Brokers 1.3.8
https://www.amibroker.com/at/

TWS is essentially just GUI on top of the Gateway application. It's communicating nearly identically with the API.

 

[cruisecontrol]

Hi Mark, as I said in a previous post, there's an automation tool called IBAutomater (similar to IBC/IBController) which facilitates auto-restarts and can force a restart without having to log back in intra-week (https://github.com/QuantConnect/IBAutomater).
I've been using this tool as a replacement for IBC for nearly 4 weeks now, with no login issues intra-week so far.

Too bad this tool can't completely automate the 2FA login

 

[777gogo]

“Connectivity between IB and Trader Workstation has been lost.” error occurred since 2022-11-17 07:16 ET and it didn't recover automatically, so I had to restart IB Gateway. However, since two-factor authentication is now required, automatic restart by https://github.com/IbcAlpha/IBC is no longer possible. I want IB to provide a way to automatically restart IB Gateway.

 

[nobel1101]

Too bad this tool can't completely automate the 2FA login

Yeah it's hassle having to use 2FA every Sunday. But it does definitely mitigate having to use 2FA every time IB Gateway has a connectivity problem and needs to be restarted.
It's still been working well since late October.

 

[d08]

“Connectivity between IB and Trader Workstation has been lost.” error occurred since 2022-11-17 07:16 ET and it didn't recover automatically, so I had to restart IB Gateway. However, since two-factor authentication is now required, automatic restart by https://github.com/IbcAlpha/IBC is no longer possible. I want IB to provide a way to automatically restart IB Gateway.

Same here, plenty of issues with "brown out" type disconnections where Gateway connections are maintained but certain data providers go red.

 

[d08]

For people who were saying that one 2FA authentication is needed once per week were wrong.
I authenticated earlier today and now as soon as Gateway closed itself automatically, I have another authentication request immediately.

This means that automated trading as such is impossible with IB as of this week, unless you're someone who spends every minute monitoring IB connections.

 

[rb7]

For people who were saying that one 2FA authentication is needed once per week were wrong.
I authenticated earlier today and now as soon as Gateway closed itself automatically, I have another authentication request immediately.

This means that automated trading as such is impossible with IB as of this week, unless you're someone who spends every minute monitoring IB connections.

I sympathize with your situation.
I've been using IBGw for several years and I'm forced to connect only once a week (with 2FA). I'd love not to have to do it, but I guess nothing is perfect.
I don't remember the last time it crashed or closed by itself.
But maybe I'm just lucky, I don't know. This is just my personal experience.

Maybe there's better solution out there, but for now, IBGw fits my needs.
And it has nothing to do with my P&L.